“The big decisions, like opening a new plant or what type of car to make, will be made by management of the new GM, not by the government,” Mr. Obama said at a noontime press conference explaining GM’s bankruptcy and the new government stake in the company.

Seconds later, Mr. Obama laid out just what type of cars he expects GM to make: “high-quality, safe, fuel-efficient cars” that will help GM “lead the U.S. to energy independence,” he said.

Even before taking control of GM, the government was pushing for automakers to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles as part of a wider emphasis on environmental issues and energy independence.

But the policy levers the government is pulling—from new nationwide fuel-economy standards to a broad climate-change bill that will make dirty energy more expensive—won’t automatically make fuel-efficient vehicles more appealing to consumers. One tool that would do the trick—steep gasoline taxes—is widely seen as political suicide.

Even so, GM seems to get the government’s message. Chief executive Fritz Henderson spoke in New York shortly after the president. The new GM, he said, will make “the very best cars and trucks, highly fuel-efficient.”

Revealingly, the first specific model he mentioned when speaking of GM’s future was the electric Chevy Volt.